Sept. 1887.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



145 



was intended to shelter a clothes-line. The 

 rope was wound around a spindle inside the 

 box, and the birds made tlieir entrance into the 

 box through the hole that was left for the line 

 to pass out. Here they built tlieir nest on the 

 top of the rope. Every Monday morning the 

 clothes-line was unwound to hang the family 

 wash upon it, and then there would ai)pearat 

 the bottom of the box the rubbish that the 

 wrens had brought in to construct their nest. 

 For several weeks the birds persevered, con- 

 structing their nest with intinite labor, only to 

 find it pulled- to pieces each week when the 

 rope was unwound. 



Mr. Bryant also relates the finding of a nest 

 of Say's Pewee, (Sayornis sayi) built in a de- 

 serted Bank Swallow's burrow, and a number 

 of nests of Brewer's Blackbird {Scolocophagus 

 cyanocpphahis) built on the ground. 



Nests of the Western House Wren ( Troglody- 

 tes mlon 2xirkmnni) were found " in the skull of 

 a horse, which had been placed in a fruit tree, 

 in the nests of Clitl' Swallows, and within an 

 old shoe lodged in a tree." 



A pair of Western Robins {Merida mUjratoria 

 propinqua) selected a hanging basket, on the 

 edge of a veranda, in which to build their nest; 

 and a California Bluebird, {Sialki mexicana) 

 built in the nest of a Cliff Swallow. 



A Visit to Haute Island in the Bay 

 of Fundy, July 26th, 1887. 



BY WATSON L. BISHOP, KENTVILLE, N. S. 



Leaving Hall's Harbor on the south side of 

 the Bay of Fundy at 5,30 a. m., we made our 

 way in a small sailing vessel for the above 

 named island, about twenty miles distant, and 

 although we had scarcely any wind and were 

 at a further disadvantage on account of fog, 

 we reached the island a little before 10 o'clock, 

 and after landing with our supplies went to the 

 Boat House, a small building down by the 

 shore on the north-east side of the island, had 

 a lunch and started to explore. 



Our party, five in number, consisted of one 

 geologist, one pleasure seeker, and three ama- 

 teur ornithologists, myself among the latter. 

 I will liere give a short description of the 

 island that the reader may better understand 

 the object of our visit. 



In the first place, it is nine miles to the near- 

 est land. Cape Chigenecto on the north ; it is 

 about one-third of a mile wide and over a mile 

 in length. It is nearly four hundred feet high 



and formed of rock with a coating of produc- 

 tive soil on tli(^ surface. The sides are mostly 

 |)eii)eiidicular leaving but few places of access 

 to the summit; on the east end it slopes down 

 to the shore and is quite heavily timbered ; up 

 this is a road built by the Government for the 

 purpose of carrying supplies to the Light 

 House which has only been built a few years, 

 and previous to whi(!h the island was almost a 

 complete forest. On the extreme west end is 

 a slope of soil, narrow at the top but widening 

 to several rods at the bottom, reaching down 

 to within tweiit}' or thirty feet of the lieach, 

 thickly covered with grass and about as steep 

 as one can well climb. A little further north 

 the walls are jierpendicular and here is probab- 

 ly the highest bluff on the island. This is truly 

 a beautiful sight ; the line of wall is very irreg- 

 ular and in some places great notches, if I may 

 so call them, are worn in the rock, reaching 

 back one hundred feet or more and fifty or 

 sixtj' feet wide. While standing here we saw 

 hundreds of gulls flying below near the cliff 

 but they were far out of reach of our shotguns. 

 The south side is almost an unbroken wall of 

 rock, leaving no safe place to go up or down. 

 On the north it is not so steep and some parts 

 are covered with a growth of small trees and in 

 many places quantities of rock have fallen 

 down affording the Sea Pigeon, {Uria grylle) 

 the desired situation for nesting. 



After pjocuring the assistance of a j^oung 

 man who lives on the island, and who I may 

 say is an expert at climbing over these steep 

 bluffs, we proceeded to collect specimens of 

 young birds and eggs, and although the date 

 of our visit was late to expect much success in 

 this, we were rewarded by getting eighteen 

 young Herring Gulls and four adult birds, 

 seven young Sea Pigeons, a few gull's eggs 

 and three Sea Pigeon's eggs. 



Our geologist found some very good speci- 

 mens, among which were some pieces of native 

 copper. 



We made a note of diflferent birds found on 

 the island which were as follows : 



Herring Gull, Lams argentatus smithsonianus \ 

 very abundant. 



Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus; common. 



Sea Pigeon, Uria grylle; common. 



Eider Duck, Somateria mollissima dresseri ; a 

 few pairs breed here. 



Spotted Sandpiper, Tringoides macularms -^ 

 common. 



Eaveu, Corns corax] common. 



Hermit Thrush, Turdns mustelinus ; very 

 common. 



